Concentrating solar power (CSP) facilities with thermal energy storage are proving more valuable since they can serve as more of a base-load solar power plant than a photovoltaic array. That’s the conclusion of a new report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The report found that CSP systems, whether tower or parabolic-trough systems, provided additional benefits to the grid rather than just the clean energy they produce. 

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) filed a complaint against India to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the country’s domestic content requirements for solar systems. The complaint is about Phase II of India’s National Solar Mission (NSM), which requires Indian power developers to use Indian-manufactured solar equipment as opposed to equipment from other countries, including the U.S. The country previously had a domestic content requirement but in Phase II even thin-film photovoltaics, like those made by First Solar, are excluded from the program. 

One of solar power’s biggest enemies is—not surprisingly—when the sun’s not shining. Not just at night, but also on cloudy days. The variability of the power source, time and again, is one of the reasons utilities have fought the addition of more solar power to their networks, particularly distributed solar generation. But energy storage technologies batteries, thermal storage—even more exotic energy storage technologies like flywheels and compressed air are starting to gain traction and analysts are increasingly seeing it as a potentially large future market. 

The Annual Solar Power Generation USA Congress has announced this year’s SPG USA ’14 Awards, which recognizes projects for best solar collaboration, best solar project and most innovative solar company. The awards went to a diverse set of companies and were presented by Rear Admiral Len Hering.

Mosaic announced on Feb. 6 that it partnered with Connecticut’s green bank, the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA) and Sungage Financial to fund $5 million in crowdsourced loans for solar installations. 

Last year, one of the headline stories in U.S.’s solar world was net-metering. It looks like this will continue to be a hot topic in 2014 in some markets, including Colorado. Coloradans are already speaking up in support of this important policy, which allows them to capitalize on their decision to go solar. 

This afternoon (Feb. 4) Sunrun purchased Mainstream Energy Corp.’s residential division of REC Solar, AEE Solar and SnapNrack. The purchase will allow Sunrun, which primarily operated as a residential solar financing company, to expand its offerings in the residential solar space. It also follows purchases by two of the nation’s other largest residential solar companies, SolarCity and Vivint Solar. The purchase shows the company is diversifying its offerings at a critical time for the residential solar industry, which remains hot, according to at least one industry expert. 

There are plenty of rumors out there about new gadgets and gear and none are usually more tantalizing than those that come out around Apple. While some companies are creating solar-powered smartphone cases with extra battery power others are working on ingenious ways to incorporate solar-charging directly into a smartphone’s touchscreen surface itself. One of the most active companies in this space is Apple, which has filed numerous patents related to photovoltaic devices that could be used to power its devices—most likely phones and tablets and now some are raising speculation that as soon as 2014 it could start integrating invisible solar charging into the surface of its mobile devices. 

New Mexico, home to the Painted Desert, and countless days of sunshine a year. As such it’s no surprise the state should be a bastion for solar energy. But compared to some other southwestern states it’s falling behind. Still, companies like Positive Energy Solar are growing in this high and dry state and if they have their say the state will soon become a much more important solar market—particularly as the cost of solar continues to come down.